Coming Soon — A Prime Chronicles Short Story

Because I have wonderful Prime Chronicles fans who convinced me that I needed to continue to write in this scifi romance world, I have written my first Prime Chronicles short story, Prime Claiming.

This is the story of Cheri Stafford, Bria’s research assistant, and Lt. Zaek Magga, a computer engineer who works with Iolyn. For those of you who have read Prime Imperative, you will know what I am talking about since this long scene takes place in between Chapters 14 and 15, on the Galanti as it is en route to Cejuru Prime.

For those of you new to the series, the story has enough back story to bring y’all up to speed.

This story depicts their final mating dance and takes place three days after Cheri ran back to the lab to checkout the Prime warrior who was thought to be mating with her.  He is, of course, but he doesn’t move forward fast enough for Cheri who has waited her entire life to find the “one.”

What happens when Cheri forces the issue?  A Prime claiming.

The e-book is in final editing stages and then will go to the formatter. I am self-publishing this story for Kindle, Nook, and  iBooks (after they return from Christmas hiatus).  The price will be $2.99 for  a 13,000+ word story.  I hope to upload after Christmas, but I am relying on the kindness of my editor and my formatter to make time for me during a busy holiday season and for Amazon and B&N to turn it around quickly.  I will make an announcement on my FB pages, Twitter, and my web site once any of the links are live.

Blurb (unedited, working version):

Like all Prime males, Lieutenant Zaek Magga has one wish in life—to find his mate. He never expected her to be Terran.

Research assistant Cheri Stafford is excited about traveling to Cejuru Prime as part of the team that will work on the Prime race’s population growth issues. She wasn’t looking for a man.

When Zaek realizes he’s bonding with Cheri, he’s excited, but cautious. His little Terran, while she might understand the biological aspects of the bonding process between a Prime male and a non-Prime female, has no clue about the reality. So, he decides to take it slow.

After observing the other Prime bond couples and how aggressively sexual the mating process is, Cheri is worried about why Zaek is holding her at arm’s length. They’re mating, and he hasn’t even kissed her properly.

When Cheri presses Zaek on the issue—the result is a hot Prime claiming.

Here’s a short Excerpt (not a final edit!):

Galactic Alliance Star Ship Galanti en route to Cejuru Prime
Crew Dining Room

“You want more?”

The husky baritone had her quivering with sexual awareness. Her already swollen and wet pussy got wetter and achier. Her clit throbbed in time with her escalated heart rate.

The man was effin’ lethal.

With a less than steady hand, Cheri Stafford scraped up the last crumbs of the super-rich chocolate cake with double-fudge frosting. Chocolate, one of her addictions, was a less than adequate substitute for what her body desperately craved—her newest addiction, Lieutenant Zaek Magga, a computer engineer and ruggedly handsome Prime warrior.

“Cheri—” Zaek eyed her with amused indulgence from his seat—way on the other side of the table. And hadn’t his choosing to sit on the other side of the table shaken her confidence in his desire for her?

Her brand-spanking-new, pheromone-enhanced empathic sense indicated his calm and humoring expression was all an act. Underneath the facade, he was a hot-and-bothered, nearly-crazed-with-lust Prime male in an active gemat-gemate mating cycle with her. The cycle had been initiated with a neurochemical attraction and then an empathic bonding; it would end with a mind-body-spirit connection after they had sex for the first time. The only difference between a Prime-on-Prime mating and a Prime-on-non-Prime mating was when the bond mark appeared—a Prime-on-Prime couple marked at the beginning of the cycle; the Prime-on-non-Prime, after the sexual culmination.

Since Cheri was Terran, their mating cycle had to be confirmed by medical testing―and it had been, on the same day Iolyn Caradoc told her Zaek was attracted to her. Prior to that pivotal moment, a mere three days ago, she’d been an ordinary research assistant for the Galactic Alliance Astrobiological Research Lab and Zaek, just another hunky Prime soldier helping set up her friend and boss Bria Martin-Caradoc’s research lab on the Galanti. Now, they were part of a new era of Prime integration with other hominids in the galaxy.

What had amazed her and everyone else was the speed of their bonding—less than three days—especially considering Cheri only had a small amount of Prime DNA.

The answer to how much Prime DNA a non-Prime female had to have to incite a gemat-gemate bond?—Not much.

Cheri still couldn’t believe this was happening, especially since Zaek hadn’t acted as sexually aggressive as the other Prime males who’d found mates among the Galanti crew. In fact, he hadn’t made any moves on her at all―she didn’t count the brief, chaste goodnight kisses at her quarters’ door.

Staring at his starkly handsome face, she licked the last of her dessert off her lips and imagined licking him all over his body. “Yummy.”

Her not-quite-yet gemat emitted a low, rumbling, buzz-saw purr which told her he’d sensed her desire and was close to losing control.

Good. Most of her control had left the ship three days ago—and what was left had eroded more with each day he hadn’t claimed her. What the fuck is his problem?

“Adora—” Zaek’s voice held a hint of steel.

While he might call her his adored one, she’d learned very quickly the man didn’t like to be ignored, which was why she was pushing him. Something had to give in this ridiculous sexual stand-off, and she was just the gal to light the match to ignite the inferno inside him.

“Yes?” She stopped scraping the plate and wondered if it would be bad form to lick the last remnants of frosting off the shiny surface. She licked her lips again since it seemed to get a rise out of him.

Zaek stiffened and emitted a growl that scraped over her already raw and bleeding nerves.

Her lips twisted with satisfaction. That growl was filled with temper and frustration. Time to add even more fuel to the smoldering embers of his tightly reined lust.

“Yes, I want more,” she muttered in a low tone that carried to him and no further. After all, they were sitting in the crowded crew’s dining area. Too many nosy gazes had already turned their way; there was no need to give the busy-bodies anything else to gossip about. “But not fricking dessert.”

********

Will there be more Prime Chronicles books in the future?  Yes.  I have a novella planned for Damon (Bria Martin-Caradoc’s adopted brother) and Susa (the former sex surrogate for the Caradoc family).

Their novella will kick-off what I plan to be a trilogy centered on other Prime/non-Prime matings and the tracking down of the Prime medical researcher who was the architect of the toxin that harmed the reproductive abilities of Prime women. While we found out who had instigated such a fiendish plot on his home planet (no spoilers here, you have to read the first three books to find out who and why) at the end of Prime Imperative, the lead researcher who aided the main Prime traitor and the doctors who aided and abetted the process were yet to be found and prosecuted.

After that trilogy is complete, we’ll see.  I also will be alternating writing Prime books with my SSI books since I have to keep all my fans happy. 🙂 Right now, I am busy at work on Storm Warning (bk 4), Tweeter Walsh’s story, in my SSI series. Tweeter’s book will be a long one, maybe Cold Day in Hell long.